


The Boy Who Just Wanted to Live

by Ashbelle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Abuse, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical Disability, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-10-17 02:39:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10584690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashbelle/pseuds/Ashbelle
Summary: Cedric didn't die in the graveyard. People still don't believe Voldemort is back.Voldemort unknowingly gets rid of the horcrux early. Cedric falls for Harry, Harry maybe falling for Cedric but is confused.





	1. Chapter 1

Harry insisted they both grab the cup together since the other refused to admit he deserved to win. Suddenly they were yanked off their feet as a hook caught his navel holding him to the cup, and then they hit the grass. He heard Cedric’s “Oomf!” and look around them. It looked like they were in a graveyard. As his scar exploded in pain he saw a figure walk out of a house a few yards away. Cedric was trying to ask him something, asking what was wrong. A bone-chilling voice rasped “kill the spare!” and the figure raised a wand, and Harry acted without thinking- thinking through the pain was too much- he rammed into Cedric as he stupefied him and a green light hit his side and everything went dark.

He was dead. He knew he was. The killing curse had hit him for a second time. He’d been hit twice in his short fourteen years. He knew that was strange, but he didn’t know what he should be feeling. Sad? Angry? His life had been cut far too short, and yet all he felt was relief. It was over. No more pain. No more grief. He was exhausted.

He opened his eyes to endless misty whiteness. As he got up he realized he wasn’t wearing any clothes, and as soon as he thought that he spotted a neat stack of clothes about a foot in front of him. A blue striped t-shirt and jeans. Simple and comfortable. 

If he was dead then where was he? Heaven? It seemed too bright to be hell. He heard a whimper and spotted a bench with a shivering bloody creature curled under it. It looked the size of a toddler and like it had never even heard of the thing that is food. He felt scared and disgusted by it, which was unreasonable so he started feeling guilty. Stretching out his hand to touch it, but jerked it back when he heard a voice say “leave it Harry, there’s nothing you can do for it.”

Harry looked towards the voice and stared in shock. Now he knew he was dead. The voice belonged to his father. He’d recognize the wild hair and glasses anywhere. It was like looking in a mirror. “Dad?” he choked.

“Hello, Harry.” James smiled sadly. 

There was someone else next to his dad which brought tears to his eyes. “Mother?”

“You’ve grown so handsomely” she said as tears started flowing down her cheeks. 

He was frozen. He was afraid if he moved they’d disappear, but they moved for him and surrounded him in a warm hug meant to make up for thirteen years of missed ones. Harry thought could stay like that forever and be totally at peace.

James shifted and Harry sighed. He knew it couldn’t last forever. Hiding his disappointment as he pulled away, “I tried my best.” 

“Oh sweet, we know and we’re so proud of you. You’ve been through so much no one should ever have to go through. And you endured everything.” Whispered Lily Potter.

All of a sudden he remembered the thing under the bench, “What is it?”

”A tragedy.” Stated his father, “Something you don’t have to worry about anymore.”

Harry looked at him in question, but decided he wanted to know something else more. “Why did you have to leave me?”


	2. Chapter 2

He woke up to feel his face pressed into damp grass, his body underneath something heavy and smothering. Wriggling trying to get out from under it he realized it was Cedric’s dead body, no not dead he could feel a heart beating steadily in the man’s chest. Heaving Harry moved the limp form off him and stared down at him. He was alive! They both were! But the other figure in the graveyard didn’t know Cedric was alive. He would keep it that way. “You killed him. You killed him!” letting hysteria into his voice. He had to fool them to buy time to figure away for them to escape intact. “He didn’t do anything, he wasn’t even supposed to be here! You could have just erased his memory and sent him back. They wouldn’t have even realized I was missing for a while, because they’d be to busy celebrating his win. You didn’t have to kill him!” As he ranted he made himself cry, which wasn’t too hard since he was terrified.

The hooded figure reached him. A wave of his wand and a muttered spell had Harry flying backwards into a statue. Another spell bound him in ropes and gagged. The hood fell back and Harry recognized who it was, Wormtail. Though he couldn’t say he wasn’t to surprised. It did make sense that the rat would run with his tail tucked between his legs to his former master, he was an utter coward, after all.

The voice from before hissed “Hurry Wormtail, the potion!” Wormtail obeyed instantly. He dropped the buddle into the giant caldron. Levitating some bones from the grave under Harry he muttered “Bone from the father unwillingly given, you will renew your son” Then he gasped “Flesh of a servant willingly given, you will revive your master” whimpering as he raised the knife again this time over his own out-stretched arm and brought it down slicing off the limb, then walked over to Harry as he pulled out a knife from his robes and slice Harry’s right arm “blood from an enemy forcibly taken,” after letting the blood fall in the caldron.

Harry tried to close his eyes but he couldn’t stop watching in horrified fascination. The mixture in the pot started boiling as it turned a sickly blood red. The pot melted away and the liquid began forming into the long form of a man. It straightened as it touched the ground “My robes Wormtail!” a voice ordered harshly. Still whimpering in pain Wormtail pulled a robe over his master with his one hand. _Cedric heard a blood-curdling scream as he slowly came to his senses. The screaming seemed to continue forever. He wanted it to stop._ “Crucio!” growled Voldemort. Harry screamed and writhed in agony as the spell hit. After a minute it ended and he lay there gasping. Voldemort laugh softly and immediately his followers joined in. "Crucio!"

 _An unforgivable! He stiffened. He had to stop whatever was happening, but he couldn’t move his body- he was paralyzed. Then he realized a binding charm had been put on him. Who had put it on him? He tried to remember what had happened. The maze. Harry. The cup. A voice. Harry! Harry had knocked him out! Why? He just lay there trying to gather his wits._ “No? Maybe some more pain will inspire a response? Crucio!” _Cedric flinched._ The pain hit again and it felt like his mind and body was being ripped apart and squashed inward all at once. “Anything? Crucio!” _The spell was weakening. He twitched his fingers. Where was Harry? The screaming continued. The one screaming was Harry. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He was suffocating._ “Crucio!” _He had to help him! Get up Cedric!_

Harry's heart was going to explode and he wondered if there had ever been a moment the pain hadn’t been there. He couldn’t think past it. His body refused to obey. Move it! Get up! Get up! GET UP! Forcing his eyes open and pushing to his knees as he tried to pull air into his burning lungs he spotted Cedric hidden mostly behind a grave to his left.

_He wanted to sob but instead he focused on breaking the spell. He was panting with the effort. It became quiet. He was able to turn his head to where the screaming had been coming from. A pause. For a moment he wondered why it lessened, not stopped, only lessened. He heard laughing._

Cedric twitched, he was waking up. Harry had to figure a way out before they realized the other boy was still alive.

“Voldemort, torturing a unarmed child, won’t even give him a chance to defend himself? Who would have thought, The great and terrible Lord Voldemort a coward!” Harry mocked with a Snape worthy sneer plastered on his face. The Death Eaters gasped and started shouting outraged insults at Harry while Voldemort growled in rage. Harry mocked. _Cedric gasped at the kids gall. He was either brave or stupid in the extreme!_

Creepy red eyes glared at him.

Harry’s wand hit him in the chest “Well, defend yourself if you can!” hissed the creature he assumed to be “Voldemort”. _Wait Voldemort? The Voldemort? The kid really was insane! None-the-less the boy retrieved his wand and stood his ground. Voldemort sent a killing curse at Harry, Cedric almost screamed._ Harry shouted, “Expelliamus!” The spells connected in the space between the two. Green and red. A eerily beautiful song burst into the air. _Cedric’s breath caught in his throat._ The red spell was somehow pushing the green back. All of a sudden Voldemort looked nervous but Harry kept pushing. The red spell touched the other wand which seemed to scream. He saw fear touch Voldemort's eyes though the monster did his best to pretend otherwise. Echoes of all the people Voldemort ever killed floated out of his wand and began circling the two effectively shielding Harry from the Death Eaters. One stopped near Harry and looked to be talking to him. Harry nodded, looking more determined than before. He braced himself.

 _Cedric held his breath. This was it. Whatever happened next would determine whether they lived. He tried to move again and managed to get his arms under him._ When he broke the connection he zigzagged through the tombstones to Cedric and summoned the cup. He was yanked off his feet again just as another Crucio hit him in the back. Cedric pushed to his knees just as Harry grabbed for him and the cup.

The scream ripped from his throat as he hit the ground. He lay there waiting for the pain to stop, but it felt like it wasn’t going to. It just kept coming and coming in never ending waves. He thought he felt arms around him, which made him scream and writhe trying to get away but the arms held tighter. it felt like his nerves were on fire at and at the same time being bathed in acid. Eventually the pain faded enough for him to open his eyes. It was Cedric holding him, rocking him as he sobbed. Why was he crying? Was he hurt to? Did they not get away fast enough that the other boy got hit with a curse? With a shaking hand he tried to wipe the older boys tears causing him to gasp and look up.

They were at the beginning of the maze. _Cedric hugged him as he tried to curl into himself as if trying to disappear. As he rocked the kid back and forth, in between murmuring softly in his ear Cedric screamed for help. Begged for help, for anyone to help Harry. He didn’t even know what he was saying. He just wanted to take the pain away. He couldn’t let go. He wouldn’t._

“Harry?” Cedric whispered.

“Why’s you crying?” Harry slurred. Cedric just sobbed harder. His entire frame shook.

Someone was shouting, feet were pounding across the grass towards him. Suddenly they were surrounded by legs and shouted questions. Hands reached for them. Harry screamed another heart-wrenching scream as Harry cringed and Cedric tried curling around him even more to shield him. He couldn’t make out what any of the voices were saying, they all blended together. He cried out as the noise seemed to stab through his ears into his brain. He screamed for them to stay away. The hands backed off. Someone knelt next to them. It took him a moment to understand what the person was saying.

“The cup was a portkey, it took us to a graveyard. Voldemort is back, he tortured Harry! I couldn’t help him, Harry put a body-bind on me. So I couldn’t help him.” _He sobbed. He then realized it was the headmaster speaking to him._ “They tortured him!” _He had to make him understand._

He thought maybe Cedric did something because the noise seemed to lessen. “It’s going to be okay now, but we need to get the both of you to the hospital wing.” The headmaster murmured softly.

Then he felt Cedric lift him, still shielding him from the crowd. Cedric nodded and lifted Harry effortlessly. _It seemed like the kid weighed hardly anything at all, he was so small. How could they have let this happen? He was an innocent child! He tried to walk smoothly and cause more pain._ They were moving through the dark, but then Harry realized his eyes were squeezed shut but didn’t try opening them. Cedric’s cool cheek was pressed to his sweaty forehead. It felt nice. He relaxed a tiny bit, but a radiating pain spike through his spine though not as bad as before. He tried to even out his breathing. He slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurred, he wasn’t wearing his glasses. “Where are we?” he rasped weakly.

“Almost to the hospital wing. You‘re going to be okay. Just hold on a bit longer. You’ll be fine.” Gasped Cedric.

“Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to let go. To not fight back. It's so exhausting."

"Not this time! You'll feel better soon." Cedric replies vehemently.

_He shuddered and clutch Harry tighter._

They must’ve reached the hospital wing because Harry recognized a voice that must’ve belonged to Madame Pomfrey direct them to a bed and Cedric gently lowered him down. As soon as his back made contact with the sheets he cried as the pain spiked again and Cedric pulled him off it. _New contact seemed to cause more pain, so he decided sit himself on the bed with Harry in his lap. Shifting, and then finally deciding he lowered himself onto the mattress. This seemed more acceptable._ Harry panted and clung to the other boy. He couldn’t make himself let go.

Madame Pomfrey pursed her lips but didn’t comment and began doing diagnostics spells. Whatever she learned made her gasp as tears started trickling down her face. She turned and darted into her office.

Cedric glanced at those surrounding them as he said quietly, “Voldemort tortured him, I don’t know for how long exactly and Harry still stood his ground. Mocked the monster into to letting him try to defend himself. It was amazing! I’ve never heard of anything like it.” _As he continued to describe what happened he felt Harry relax a tiny bit._

Madame Promfrey came back carrying several bottles and containers. “It’s amazing he’s still conscious, not to mention alive!” She knelt next to the two. “Now, Harry, I need you to take some potions for me. Can you do that for me?” No response. “Harry?”

“Harry- kid, she has something to take some of the pain away. We need you to drink it though. Harry?” Harry shift, his eyes blinked open slowly.

“Mam’ P’frey?” he slurred.

“Yes, Harry, that’s right. I’m here. Can you drink this for me?”

“Mmm…”

_Cedric took the vial and held it to his lips, Harry opened, started swallowing but then gasped and start coughing, great racking coughs that didn’t want to stop. Blood covered both the front of their robes, and there wasn’t anything he could do to take away the pain, so he rubbed circles in his back. It slowly stopped._

Eventually the coughing ceased and the small body in his arms became limp in exhaustion. They tried a second potion and this time his body didn’t have enough strength to resist it. It trickled down his throat as he didn’t even try to swallow it. He almost fell asleep when they put a third potion to his lips and again he couldn’t resist. He didn’t know what it was but it made his heavier and heavier until he felt like he was going to suffocate under the pressure. Then suddenly everything was gone, the world gone dark. It was cool, no worries, no pain, no fear. Just the quiet dark.

**Author's Note:**

> no regular updates
> 
> story on pause.


End file.
